"Dining Clubs" - Irish Societies and Journals
Where can you find out about Irish family history societies?
Go to any family history fair in the UK and you will be tripping over county family history societies, all eager for you to join. Ireland also has some venerable national and regional societies too, some of whom have been going for a very long time. Many are more widely described as historical, heritage or archaeological societies rather than just family history, but I would encourage you to take a look at what they might offer for your area of interest.
Your best bet is probably to lob the county name and one of these highlighted key words or phrases above into a search engine, or specifically the Internet Archive, and see what comes up. "Journal" could also be a useful search term as most societies produce one.
For example, several volumes of the Journal of the Kildare Archaeological Society are available on the Internet Archive. Volume VI, 1903-1905 has an index of the wills proved in the Diocese of Kildare starting on page 473 as an example of the sorts of genealogical treasure you might just turn up if you settle in for a good read.
Both Claire Santry and John Grenham have some pages listing a wide range of both geographical and topical societies - neither wholly comprehensive but with plenty of choices that should perk your interest;
Go to any family history fair in the UK and you will be tripping over county family history societies, all eager for you to join. Ireland also has some venerable national and regional societies too, some of whom have been going for a very long time. Many are more widely described as historical, heritage or archaeological societies rather than just family history, but I would encourage you to take a look at what they might offer for your area of interest.
Your best bet is probably to lob the county name and one of these highlighted key words or phrases above into a search engine, or specifically the Internet Archive, and see what comes up. "Journal" could also be a useful search term as most societies produce one.
For example, several volumes of the Journal of the Kildare Archaeological Society are available on the Internet Archive. Volume VI, 1903-1905 has an index of the wills proved in the Diocese of Kildare starting on page 473 as an example of the sorts of genealogical treasure you might just turn up if you settle in for a good read.
Both Claire Santry and John Grenham have some pages listing a wide range of both geographical and topical societies - neither wholly comprehensive but with plenty of choices that should perk your interest;
What are the benefits of joining a society?
You are likely to find a wide range of resources, including databases, transcripts, findings aids, blogs, forums, online lectures and journals (some available for free but many exclusively for members.) Most have a Facebook page too which can be a good way of seeing what they are currently involved with and how active the membership is. Other members may be able to apply their expert local knowledge to your people puzzles, which can be worth the often very modest membership fees alone if you are unable to travel to Ireland yourself. Most are also able to offer associate benefits and discounts with partner organisations. Consult their websites yourself to assess the full range of benefits on offer or make a point of seeking them out at any fairs to decide whether you think they can be of assistance to your research. Of course, one of the biggest benefits is that they represent an opportunity to give something back, either by contributing your own research to their archives for others to benefit from in the future or getting involved with transcription projects to create new resources.
Here are a few I've found useful from personal experience.
You are likely to find a wide range of resources, including databases, transcripts, findings aids, blogs, forums, online lectures and journals (some available for free but many exclusively for members.) Most have a Facebook page too which can be a good way of seeing what they are currently involved with and how active the membership is. Other members may be able to apply their expert local knowledge to your people puzzles, which can be worth the often very modest membership fees alone if you are unable to travel to Ireland yourself. Most are also able to offer associate benefits and discounts with partner organisations. Consult their websites yourself to assess the full range of benefits on offer or make a point of seeking them out at any fairs to decide whether you think they can be of assistance to your research. Of course, one of the biggest benefits is that they represent an opportunity to give something back, either by contributing your own research to their archives for others to benefit from in the future or getting involved with transcription projects to create new resources.
Here are a few I've found useful from personal experience.
The Irish Genealogical Research Society is the world's oldest organisation devoted to the study of Irish genealogy. It was actually founded in London in 1936 by Rev. Wallace Clare, as he sought to bring together copies of manuscripts lost in the 1922 Dublin pyre. Previously accessible only in London at the Society of Genealogists, the resulting Library unfortunately has no permanent home at the moment following the sale of the building. Perhaps they will invest in digitising some of the resources to make them more widely available?
Some of the most valuable IGRS resources are their Early Indexes to Births, Marriages and Deaths. There are thousands of transcribed entries carefully gleaned from a wide variety of esoteric sources that could take your research back into the 18th century. However as of DEC 2021, these indexes are now only available to members on the redesigned website.
One unique resource that has been made freely available online is their IGRS Card Index to Wills. These are PDF files of card images so I'm afraid you cannot search them with Ctrl-F, but they are easy to scroll through alphabetically. Check the web page notes carefully about sources and note the references quoted on the cards. You may be able to track down more information, either directly with the Society or perhaps elsewhere e.g. in an online journal.
The Irish Genealogist is their scholarly annual journal and has been published since 1937. There is a large database of names that have been indexed from the run of journals from 1937 to 2001. This is free to search, and you will learn which journal volume, part and article the names appear in. The page banner on the results page suggests that more information is available to members, which might mean free access to these articles but I'm not sure (the journal page refers to some difficulties with linking scans to the index (DEC 2023)? Although there is no clue to this for non-members, if you return to the web page for the journal and scroll down to the correct journal and part number, it appears that you can order a digital copy of the article for a few Euros. However, I have not tried to do this myself yet, so I cannot vouch for it working. You may also find copies of the journal on the reference shelves of some libraries or archives - it will be a case of scouring catalogues and using the article references from the IGRS database to track down your treasure.
I served on the IGRS Council for a few years and was involved in several projects, one of which was the IGRS 80th Anniversary Archive - a small collection of short personal stories celebrating favourite Irish ancestors - including my Great Great Grandmother, Rachel Castles.
Some of the most valuable IGRS resources are their Early Indexes to Births, Marriages and Deaths. There are thousands of transcribed entries carefully gleaned from a wide variety of esoteric sources that could take your research back into the 18th century. However as of DEC 2021, these indexes are now only available to members on the redesigned website.
One unique resource that has been made freely available online is their IGRS Card Index to Wills. These are PDF files of card images so I'm afraid you cannot search them with Ctrl-F, but they are easy to scroll through alphabetically. Check the web page notes carefully about sources and note the references quoted on the cards. You may be able to track down more information, either directly with the Society or perhaps elsewhere e.g. in an online journal.
The Irish Genealogist is their scholarly annual journal and has been published since 1937. There is a large database of names that have been indexed from the run of journals from 1937 to 2001. This is free to search, and you will learn which journal volume, part and article the names appear in. The page banner on the results page suggests that more information is available to members, which might mean free access to these articles but I'm not sure (the journal page refers to some difficulties with linking scans to the index (DEC 2023)? Although there is no clue to this for non-members, if you return to the web page for the journal and scroll down to the correct journal and part number, it appears that you can order a digital copy of the article for a few Euros. However, I have not tried to do this myself yet, so I cannot vouch for it working. You may also find copies of the journal on the reference shelves of some libraries or archives - it will be a case of scouring catalogues and using the article references from the IGRS database to track down your treasure.
I served on the IGRS Council for a few years and was involved in several projects, one of which was the IGRS 80th Anniversary Archive - a small collection of short personal stories celebrating favourite Irish ancestors - including my Great Great Grandmother, Rachel Castles.
The North of Ireland Family History Society has quite an extensive local branch network as well as a resource centre in Newtownabbey. This looks to be very well stocked and I would certainly like to visit someday and explore their maps and journals. With ancestors from Armagh and Co. Tyrone, I have appreciated their advice on people puzzles when I have chatted to them on their stand at various fairs.
The Carlow Historical and Archaeological Society was founded as the Old Carlow Society in 1946 and their annual journal goes by the jaunty name of Carloviana. I've included it in my list as a great example of a local society that happened to cast up a veritable gem for my own research in the form of an online lecture.
"Landholding in the New English Settlement of Hacketstown, 1635-1875" by Oliver Whelan is an example of the very specific topics you might find covered by local historians. My Jones and Barker ancestors held several land leases around this small town so you can see what I mean by a gem! I hope you are as lucky with your quests!
"Landholding in the New English Settlement of Hacketstown, 1635-1875" by Oliver Whelan is an example of the very specific topics you might find covered by local historians. My Jones and Barker ancestors held several land leases around this small town so you can see what I mean by a gem! I hope you are as lucky with your quests!
(c) Irish Geneaography - 2023
